June Pallett and her husband, Tony, of Driffield have just returned from an 11-day visit to India as representatives of Driffield Rotary Club to take part in what has been dubbed the final push to eradicate the disease.

Mr and Mrs Pallett were part of a 16-strong team of Rotarians from clubs across England who made the journey to Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, in Northern India to assist with one of the national immunisation days.

Mr Pallett said: "This was called the final push because they think it will be eradicated within the next two years. Polio now only occurs in a handful of countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria, with India having the worst number of cases.

"June wanted to see the tail end of the vaccination programme before it faded away."

At a hospital in Shapura the Rotarians presented staff with two new nebulisers bought with funds raised by the Rotary Club throughout the year.

Mrs Pallett added: "We first went out to India in 1997 and we were absolutely shocked at the amount of poverty out there. It just makes us want to come back and head out there again to help them in whatever way we can."

The couple, with the support of the Rotary Club of Driffield, are already busy raising funds for an oxygen machine and ECG equipment which they hope to take to India next September.